The Real Deal New York

Kalikow’s multifamily division sued for alleged rent overcharges

Lawsuit says company has cheatied tenants at Flushing building since 1984

February 06, 2018 02:50PM

Trafalgar Apartments in Flushing, Queens

Kaled Management, the multifamily division of the Kalikow Group, has spent decades overcharging tenants and improperly getting millions of dollars in tax benefits for rent-stabilized apartments at a Flushing building, a new lawsuit claims.

Legal Aid is filing the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of residents at Trafalgar Apartments on Union Street, who claim to have been overcharged by hundreds of thousands of dollars since at least 1984, the New York Daily News reported. The suit also says that Kaled Management received at least $100 million in tax benefits through J-51 and 421a programs for rent stabilized apartments at the building, despite the fact that only 14 of the building’s 113 units were rent stabilized as of November.

Trafalgar reimbursed tenants for overcharges in rent last year, but Legal Aid says that those reimbursements were not enough.

Legal Aid hopes to make this a class-action case including about 120 tenants, and the organization has also named the city as a defendant for failing to enforce rules at the building regarding its tax benefits. [NYDN] – Eddie Small